Amidst the cool early summer breezes off the Mediterranean, the 32nd edition of EUBCE has arrived in Marseille, and the delegates have been comparing notes on sustainable projects and technologies with elán vital and force irresistible. The delegates are serious, impassioned, confident and, oh my, detailed. My boat is swamped with forecasts, models, predictions.
There are more models at EUBCE than on the Paris fashion runways this season. As a fashion design juror might remark to you, the trick in judging is to recognize what looks good in the real world. Everything looks good, even unflattering data, draped on the right model.
So, at EUBCE, you ask, what is the buzz on the floor? To paraphrase Monty Python:, it is SAF, SAF, SAF, SAF, carbon price on chemicals, eSAF, SAF, SAF and eSAF. So many people had so many interesting things to say about SAF, and said them so fast and without pause, that I was reminded of the French film Breathless which, coincidentally, also begins in Marseille. The eSAF story Meanwhile, I know, you're asking "what exactly is eSAF?" It's the trendy name for eFuels, which used to be PTX fuels, after they were electrofuels, after they were 3G biofuels, after they were that lab thing making fuel from soda water.
Take it from me, you can't make eSAF fast enough to please the forecasters at EUBCE looking for sustainable, affordable, reliable, available aviation fuels in 2040. The belief that this not-yet-at-scale tech will affordably succeed is so intense.
